One of my mentors from early in my career once told me, “We hire really talented people and then proceed to kill them from the neck up.” I laughed at the time, because this seemed like a preposterous thought. Many years and hundreds of clients later, I have come to realize the truth of that statement.
Obviously, most business owners or managers don’t consciously limit the performance of their employees. Ask anybody that has left a job, however, and odds are they left because they were disappointed in some way with their manager/supervisor or with the work environment. So, here are 5 ways (there are many more) that managers and business owners may be limiting the performance of their employees:
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As you can see, each of these items can negatively impact performance, and each of these limiting factors are an unintended result of a management/ownership action. The good news is that all of these are easy to correct. Talk candidly with your employees. You might be surprised how many simple changes can be made to improve their performance – and they will tell you if you ask!
Share with us the kinds of things that have happened on the job that have been demotivating to you…
The short answer is: you don’t.
Trying to control what your employees say or do outside the workplace is obviously impossible. But that does not mean you are helpless before the power of social media and its potential effects for good or ill on your business. The thing to remember is social media is merely a communications tool — no different than word of mouth. It simply has an ability to be seen by mass audiences very quickly.
I had the chance to learn what some of the top companies are doing in regards to employee use of social media at a recent meeting of the Social Media Club of Detroit. The takeaway: control is impossible, but asking your employees to be considerate and thoughtful is very doable.
Mary Henige, director of media & digital communications for General Motors, said during the meeting that managers need to trust employees to do what is right. She issued a low-key policy this year asking GM employees to exercise good judgment and restraint in their various social media communications. This was not prompted by any controversies, but was done to establish some ground rules for the “wild West” that is today’s Internet.
In a sense, such policies are little different than the ages-old unspoken rule that one should not talk ill of their employer. It’s simply a bad idea for one’s own continued longevity at a company. But a written, yet congenial, policy for conduct on social media sites that merely serves as a reminder of what is considered good conduct can go a long way.
I urge you to consider that social media can be a powerful tool for positively promoting your company’s goods and services, corporate citizenship, community involvement, and work-life world to the outside public. Every employee is now your spokesperson, bar none. This shouldn’t make you afraid of social media; in fact, it’s an opportunity to empower employees to talk positively about your company and its’ brand.
What can you do today to make the most of your employees’ social media interaction?
1. Communicate to all employees that using social media to discuss the company should always be treated as if the client is listening (and let us assure you, they are). Just as mom and dad would say, if you can’t say something nice … refrain from posting.
2. If you have an employee that is a great social media communicator, ask other employees to take note of their social media interactions. This will have the added benefit of demonstrating your trust in your employees, which will make them feel great — and is a powerful rapport builder for management.
3. On the topic of trust, when you place it in your employees, it’s a great way create a sense of accountability for their social media interactions. It also helps them see how much power they wield with their words. By being proactive and verbally informing employees that you trust them to represent the company well, the more likely they are to take a personal responsibility for doing right by you.
Obviously, there are boundaries to what is shared (such as trade secrets), but once a clear but low-key policy is established, employees will tend to do the right thing. With the right strategy, social media can become a powerful tool for your company.
DISCLAIMER: This post is for information purposes only, and is not a substitute for legal advice. Please consult your attorney before writing and implementing any policy regarding social media.“Social Couponing” is a new and hot concept in marketing today. It refers to an online promotion in which coupon offers go active once a minimum number of registered users sign on to them. Groupon and Living Social are two sites that coordinate and promote such offers.
Rice University’s Jones School of Business recently studied 150 businesses that offered a coupon promotion through Groupon. Here’s what they found:
- 66% reported that their promotion was profitable.
- For those that reported the promotion was profitable, 50% of redeemers spent more than the face value of the promotion, and 31% returned to the businesses at non-discounted prices.
- For the 34% of promotions that were not profitable, only 25% of redeemers spent more than face value of the coupon and 13% returned a second time.
It is useful to note that although 66% of the promotions were profitable, 40% of the businesses studied would not use a social coupon approach again. The primary reason is that the offers attracted primarily price shoppers, rather than relational (repeat) customers.
It seems that food service establishments and salon/spa/tanning services have the most success with these types of promotions, receiving the greatest amount of traffic from the offer.
So, the verdict on social couponing is a giant “it depends.” These promotions only become profitable if the redeemers either spend more than the face value of the coupon, or return and make a purchase for non-discounted services. Any organization considering such a promotion should consider how they will make these things happens to ensure a successful promotion.
The nature of marketing is changing right before our eyes. We can (and should) use mass media to attract customers and clients. However, today’s consumer expects to engage with the company — to have a dialog and share thoughts and opinions. This is social media.
A 2009 Harris Interactive survey found “More than half (54%) of all online adults said social media content has influenced their online transactions, with 82% of those reporting social media has influenced their choice of vendor.”
Implementing and managing a Social Media Strategy is time consuming. It is hard to keep up with. But like it or not, it’s how our customers are evaluating us (i.e. – reviewing), where they are talking about us, and how they are making buying decisions. Every business must be a part of the conversation. Again, it is time consuming to participate in social media (isn’t all marketing time consuming?), but imagine how much time you’ll have on your hands if you don’t!
Search “Consumer Behavior & Social Media” on Google. You’ll have plenty of reputable ammunition to not only demonstrate the desirability of a Social Media strategy, but the necessity of it.
Clearly Marketing would love to hear from you on the impact social media has had for your small business. We invite comments your on this blog and look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I enjoy learning and experimenting with social media as much as anyone else, but I have to admit that I am really tired of hearing about how social media is all the rage.
Apparently, I’m not alone. In a recent eMarketer study, 30% of the executives surveyed indicated that they were tired of hearing about social media, especially Twitter.
Of course, as soon as I decided that I was going to take a break from reading about it, I ran across a very cool article titled “80 Ways that Small Business owners can use Twitter.”
Sigh … since I pride myself on staying current and sharing the latest and greatest, I guess I will bite the bullet and share some of these. You can read them all at http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/how-to-use-twitter-as-a-smb-owner.html